Communication

[dan 10]

I have been talking to fellow ASM about our kids and the war. My son is 13, and the other SMs have sons that are from 12 to 14. What we have found out from these boys is that the are worried that we (they) may be attacked, because of this war. Bottom Line talk to your kids! Which I probably didn't need to say here!! What I see in Scouters is that we have a very good line of communication with our sons!

[acco40 95]

We had a campout at one of our council properties last weekend. We stayed in a cabin mainly because we had Webelos Scouts as visitors and March in Michigan is unpredictable. Anyway, the cabin had a TV and I tried and tried to keep the kids (fairly easy) and parents (very difficult) to not sit around and watch Iraq War news at every turn. I don't think the boys nneded to be subjected to that all weekend.

 

I try to make sure the boys feel free to ask questions but don't interject my thoughts on the conflict unless directly pressed.

 

P.S. I'm not a big fan of the "ribbon" gestures.

[KoreaScouter 13]

Acco40;

 

I'm with you on the war coverage overload. Too many news organizations and too much cheap, light satellite gear means we get real-time feeds of squad-level skirmishes.

 

The embedded journalist concept is creating many latter-day Ernie Pyles, which is a good thing. However, it's very possible a family member could watch their service member get injured, captured, or killed live on TV -- a horrible by-product of better comm. We were saying around here that if, God forbid, we have to do something like this ten years from now, every troop in the field could have a mini camera mounted on his helmet, and viewers at home will be able to digitally select which feed they want to get, from thousands.

 

I also agree with you that the ribbon thing is a largely meaningless gesture, sort of "...I can't do anything else, so I'll do this...). There are so many tangible ways to show support, many discussed in this forum, that would make outstanding service projects, even for a Cub Scout.

 

KS